goneawayworld | It's (Still) Honestly A Terrible Plan.

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It's (Still) Honestly A Terrible Plan.

Who: Saturday, Gambit, York, North, Shelly, Brainy
What: A daring infiltration of the executive deck
Where: Exec deck
When: Simultaneous with the riot
Warnings/Notes: None so far.

Saturday watches from the edges of the riot, making a great show of moving furniture and snatching bystanders away from the rolling ball of chaos, until South slips by and murmurs something in her ear.

Then she begins to move, touching a shoulder here, giving a significant look there. Time to go. One by one, everyone can slowly depart. Secrecy is essential; even Jorgmund can add up riot and murder and break-in and get “kill them before they kill you.”

They can all meet Saturday at the appointed place. It’s a less-used service entrance to the upper deck, which some may not have even known existed. She stands with her hands in her pockets, wound tight as a sprinter before the starting pistol.

“Okay,” she says quietly, once they’re all there. In an earpiece cobbled together by Alia, a New Hire now gone, she says, “Brainy, you ready? Good.” She looks at the others. “Right. So. You all know the plan, an’ the stakes. Go in, grab as much as you can, get out. No unnecessary risks, no heroics. Brainy’s our eye in the sky; once the door opens, we scatter. He’ll be the only one with the full picture.”

“We’ve got a private channel, but keep it quiet. No chatter. If you cut comms, it means you’re burned an’ the op is over. We will try to get you out. It might not be possible. If Jorg realizes what we did, we’re all fucked. If that’s too much heat, go back. I won’t judge anyone for it.”

And she means it, too. Risking their lives in battle is one thing; risking torture and god knows what else at the hands of an enemy like Jorgmund is quite another. They’ve all heard a variation on this speech from her before, of course, when she approached them with the final plan. But she seems to need to make sure she says it again, one last time.

“Okay. Right.” Saturday turns to the door. Her hands are too disciplined to shake as she draws out the keycard, but she can taste her heartbeat on the back of her tongue. It’s always like this before a run, or a fight, in the moment when the ground starts to shift and anything becomes possible - provided you don’t fall.

It makes her feel a little guilty, how much she loves it.

The alarm panel blinks a challenge, and South steps forward. Planker’s voice emerges from her mouth, speaking the code-phrase stolen from his mind by Stacia and Kerrigan. The lock processes, taking almost too long.

But the door opens, revealing a branching hallway lined with doors. Time for everyone to get into their groups, and set off…

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York hums thoughtfully, watching the transfer tick down.

"There are some files labeled 'findings' and that sounds promising. I think a bunch of it is financials that won't mean shit to us, but I'm just taking it all. It's not in this computer, though, I'm in a restricted server. Odds are this worker wouldn't have had access to it."

"Then we have no choice. Let's find the right place for our cybernetic action"

Although admittedly she's not too happy about having to step away from the entrance door -- the deeper they go into the IT lands, the harder it'll be to get out if something goes awry. Still...clearly by staying somewhat safe they won't be getting the juicy stuff, if it turns out the findings files aren't enough.

Shelley glances at the servers beyond the glass door.

"Somewhere over there, perhaps. From here I can only see servers, but it could be worth seeing if there's a computer to use. If we go over there we should block this door, though"

At least that should buy them some time and warn them if someone tries to come in through the entrance door! Even if it's just a few seconds of warning, perhaps that could make the difference.

Edited 2021-05-21 15:24 (UTC)

"Yeah, let's block the door. If we hear someone coming that'll give us time to slip through into another room."

He's certainly not beyond abusing his power to escape.

The transfer completes and he slips the drive into his pocket, then moves to help Shelley push a desk in front of the door.

Shelley pushes the desk alongside York, hoping the noise isn't loud enough to attract attention from out there. Alright, so far, not so bad of a trip into the depths of the executive area. They just had to knock out a person, but that was to be expected! And they have a drive with information. That officially makes this a successful trip, she thinks to herself! Go team!

"The other team better be doing just as well as we have so far"

As if everything these two have done is the textbook example of how to perform a successful corporate infiltration. Don't praise yourself too much, Shelley, there's still plenty of sneaking around into the IT office to do.

York huffs in amusement, stepping back from the desk. "Hopefully. Okay, let's keep looking."

What else is there to dig into? The server room, sure, but in case there's no terminals in there, any other doors or cabinets?

Between the two of them, the desk moves easily enough, though they should try to remember to put it back. Saturday had emphasized leaving no trace, and an unconscious employee who may very well remember being bludgeoned by mysterious parties unknown is already a large one. There isn't much else in the first room, unless they feel a burning need to collect broken hardware.

The inside of the server room is dark; there's a lightswitch to one side of the door. It's not very big, certainly not big enough to support the whole rig - there must be other rooms, elsewhere. It's a pretty standard server room, not a lot of surprises here - except in the back. There, on a small workbench, in a clear container about the size of a human hand. A string of crystal nanotubes, shimmering with threat, edges blurring as they pulse between realities.

It's a shock collar. One of ones implanted in every New Hire - their deadly, invisible leashes. Fresh and ready for install.

Shelley enters the server room alongside York, answering the request for communication from the other team. She had just finished reporting when she saw the container.

That's...so that's what she has in her neck right now. Wow. Her hand unconsciously goes to her neck. "Looks like we now have a container to lug around" she says to York. No way they can just leave an empty container. At least if they take it all with them someone will think they just misplaced the collar.

Edited 2021-05-24 22:57 (UTC)

York nods -- this is big, even though Jorgmund will probably know someone was in here and took it.

"I'll carry it. I don't think there's anything else in here, though, there's no terminal and D can't access the servers on his own."

It's a shame his buddy is stuck in the puck, he could do some quality hunting around, but from how small this one bank is there must be others. They might hit pay dirt yet again if they keep moving.

"Let's go move the desk back and see what's behind this wall... if it's more offices or if we can get out that way. It'd be better not to be seen coming from the direction of IT with this."

"Aye aye, cap'n"

That sounds like a decent plan. Better hurry back to the door and start getting that desk out of the way as quickly and silently as possible. Now that they got something that may be truly great, they have to get out somehow and return to safer areas.

While she's going to the desk, though, she glances at the unconscious woman on the floor.

"What are we going to do with her? Should we...disguise what happened somehow? Can we even do that?"

As they push the desk back, York glances up at the ceiling to see that there are tiles they could pull down, like some fell and hit the woman. He doesn't realize that inside the privacy bubble, Shelley said something to her.

"We could try to make it look like a freak accident."

With some luck between the confusion of everything that was happening and then the bludgeoning hopefully muddling things in her head even further she won't remember that part. Despite generally being a daring person who several times has sneaked into places she shouldn't be at -- with varying success -- Shelley's capacity to be subtle...needs improvement. At least she didn't let herself be seen, because that'd have made it likelier things could be traced back to her.

She hopes this gal didn't see her, at least. You can never be sure!

"Like her chair collapsed and she fell and hit her head? It's not impossible. Just unlikely."

Another option could be that something fell from a shelf and onto her head, if there's even any shelf out there, but that'd require making even more of a mess, so perhaps it won't be a good idea. A tile from the roof, though, that's a nice option!

Still, just in case, Shelley makes sure she picked up all the pieces of broken keyboard that may be around. Leave no traces! Well, more than she already did.

Edited 2021-05-26 01:06 (UTC)

"Like her chair collapsed or the ceiling tiles fell or something. We've got to move fast, though, she might wake up soon."

He's reasonably sure that once Shelley picks up the keyboard pieces, everything is back where it was. He even puts the wrench back on that other desk.

Good idea -- better leave the wiring there too. They can't replace the keyboard that used to be on that desk, but it's a small price to pay.

Time to see what their possible options are -- and just in case, she once again stands by the door to keep an ear to the outside. Don't fall into complacency no matter how well things are going! You don't want to be caught offguard!

Other than the business with the ceiling tiles, there really isn't much else you can do to conceal what happened. People aren't generally bashed into the head by accident.

That being said, the ceiling tiles could work. You'll want to be careful with the details, though - plaster in the hair, smear of blood on the chosen tile, that kind of thing. Jogging a few extra ones loose would also help - verisimilitude and all that.

Shelley doesn't hear anyone coming, yet.

"Okay, you keep listening."

York climbs up on the desk carefully, reaching up and jogging some of the tiles loose, grabbing the one directly above the woman's workspace and pulling it free. He snaps it easily, sprinkling plaster over her, and gently smears blood on the edge, arranging the scene. It's unlikely such a thing would happen on its own, but a freak accident is still a better cover than nothing.

Shelley glances at the preparations while she listened through the door. Everything going well so far...although Jorgmund cut corners in other places of the rig here on the executive area they did seem to be more careful. With some luck they'll believe it.

She says softly, turning her back to direct her voice towards the center of the room, so it's unlikely someone from outside can listen -- so far nobody has been coming but of course every cautious move is necessary!

"Hey, do you think you could use your power for us to go through the floor instead of the wall? I was thinking maybe if we get onto another floor right away we could have an easier time getting away"

Actually? He could, just wants to be honest with her when doing something that could get them hurt.

"That's a really good idea but I've never tried. I should probably check what's below us and then lower you down first so we don't just fall."

"What a gentleman!"

That's a good plan! Despite everything Shelley seems to be having somewhat of a good time -- this is the sort of thing that makes you feel alive, sneaking into locations you shouldn't be at and steal a few things. So what if every time she was successful at it her life took a serious turn for the worse? Enjoy the moment!

Having said her thoughts, she focuses back on the door full-stop.

The ruse is as convincing as you're going to make it, given the constraints. South is about to make her big play - it's probably time to grab the last bits of what you've found and go.

"Okay. Let me check what's under us, see if I can lower you down. Grab the collar."

He lies down, bracing himself on the floor and bending to phasing his upper body through, hoping the floor/ceiling isn't too thick so that he'd fall through and leave Shelley behind.

Below is about two square feet of crawlspace, filled with pipes and wires, and then below that, a very, very small supply closet. It'll be a tight fit. If he repositions himself and tries again, he sees it opens out on to a hall, or they can phase through the back wall to one of the employee bathrooms.

He'll scoot around and try to find an optimal space... the hallway seems riskier but there's just not enough space in the closet, and he agrees that being on a different floor would be better. York glances at Shelley... maybe since she's got the collar she should phase into the closet, and he'll drop down into the hall and open the door for her.

"Hope you're not claustrophobic. Give me your hand?"

"Shelley Endeavour Winters fears no small space"

Quite the boastful way to say that she's not claustrophobic. Giving a last look around to make sure they're not forgetting something -- desk is in place, the wrench and wire are back where they had been at the start, the keyboard is gone and all the pieces are in her pockets, and there's absolutely no way she's leaving the shock collar that represents their successful infiltration -- she nods, extending a hand.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand"

Edited 2021-06-02 03:15 (UTC)

This is going to take some focus... York grips Shelley's wrist tight, waiting until she grabs on to his in return. Then he pictures her as an extension of himself and activates his ability. She starts to slip through the floor, and he leans forward to lower her down to the ground. It's dark in the tiny supply closet but there's just enough room for her not to be inside anything else. She's only a few inches off the floor now.

"Dropping you in three, two... one."

It's a little nervewracking to be lowered through solid objects. What if someone came in at that time? What if York got distracted? It could end pretty badly. Shelley manages to stay calm, but in her head she's just imagining how horrible that could be. She has died enough times in her life, she doesn't want one more to the list.

Thankfully she's left in the closet without any accidents happening. Shelley is dropped onto the floor. Looking up, she murmurs: "Stay safe"

Shelley probably will be fine. Ready to wait for York to come get her out of the supply closet at the first chance, she leans against the back wall and focuses. Uf, it's moments like these that she's glad fate granted her this strange superpower. Even if someone who isn't York opens that door at some point, she hopes she can use her power to get out of the closet unnoticed and run away. This is it, the final stretch! It can be done!

She hopes so, at least.

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infailtration - 2021-06-02 03:53 (UTC) - Expand

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